Celebrate Your Progress | ATHLINKS Review

Disclaimer: I am promoting Athlinks as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador) and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

Back in 2010, I toed the line to my very first marathon. Many, many memories have been made and sometimes painful lessons have been learned since then. Eight more marathons, a few half's and shorter distance races later, each of those races has added experience into my lifetime running bank.

When I first started running, I made an account on ATHLINKS.com to keep track of my race results and it's a tool that I still use frequently.


What is ATHLINKS?

ATHLINKS is the largest results database for competitive endurance athletes in the world. They collect results for running races, triathlon, swimming, cycling, mountain biking and pretty much any timed endurance event that you can find. The results are then added to the database and linked to member accounts.

I can easily access my race stats with the click of a button and bring those old race memories back to my mind. See that "new runner that trained on flat roads for hilly trail marathon" look on my face? I remember Marathon #1 as clear as day: Pain cave. Hungry. Cold. But I finished!

2010 Finish Line of My FIRST Marathon Ever => Pain Face.

My training and racing strategies have changed greatly since that first marathon (thankfully) and it is encouraging to see progress over the years. My race times don't improve as drastically as they did in the beginning — like jumping from the 4:07 to a 3:34 — but I know I have come a long way personally!

I remember Marathon #9 as the latter of my first 2-week back-to-back marathon experience and an amazing experience with my mom and kiddos.

2016 Finish Line of Marathon #9 => Still Tired but More Smiley :)

Merging the Old and the New

My first ATHLINKS account, like my race results, was under my maiden name. After my husband and I were married in 2012, I simply made a new account with my married name to save new race results. That worked fine but I really wanted to have all of my results in the same account to see the progress from marathon #1 to #9.

Merging my two accounts was the goal and I wasn't sure where to start. That brought me to the ATHLINKS Help Desk.


I entered "merge accounts" into the search bar and this result popped up: "I have two profiles. Can I merge them?". From there, the Help Desk gave me exact directions on how to merge both of my accounts.


I sent the required information to the support team via email and, not even an hour later, they responded to my request. My accounts and all of my race results were now merged into one.

Thank YOU, ATHLINKS Support Team!


Get Started with ATHLINKS

Sign up for your FREE account on ATHLINKS to collect your past race results and add your name to future race starting lists! Of course you should stop by and "Follow" my profile, too ;) If we have ran some of the same races, you and I may even be considered "Rivals" <= It's a really cool feature. I encourage you to check out the running "Rivals" in your area!

Now I've added my name and race day goal to the Grandma's Marathon 2018 starting list. Let the new race season begin!


Connect with ATHLINKS:

#Gmas18 Training W2 Recap

Follow along the 16-week journey as I train for my 10th 26.2, the Grandma’s Marathon coming up on June 16, 2018. I look forward to running with fellow BibRave Pros Angie, Amy and Jenn!

MONDAY: 

Off. After a beautiful weekend of sunshine and above freezing temps, the thunder/rain came last night and topped off with snow today. Lots and lots and LOTS of snow. Now we're back to square one again. (And back on the treadmill again)

TUESDAY: 

(Treadmill) Easy-Effort 6.2 mi, 01:00 @ 09:40 pace. It was around 20°F outside but much of our streets hadn’t been cleaned yet... After a not wonderful night of sleep, littlest one and I were up at 5:00 to hit the treadmill. He’s a morning person, that’s for sure! + Stability (A) Strength Training

WEDNESDAY: 

(Treadmill) Progression run = 9:00/mile with last 10 minutes @ 8:00/mile. 5.1 mi, 00:45 @ 08:49 avg pace. Rough night of sleep with baby last night! I’m hoping to make it outside early tomorrow morning.

THURSDAY

(Treadmill) Easy Effort 6.2 mi, 01:00 @ 09:40 pace. Went with the treadmill because the cold, dark morning was unappealing. I’m hoping to avoid this cold that has gone through the family (except for baby and I)!

FRIDAY:

McMillan Running's Strength in Stride: Stability B Strength Training

SATURDAY:

Long Run 11.63 mi, 01:41 @ 08:41 pace. It was a nice morning for a run and I enjoyed a wet, heavy dump of snow for the last 40 min. I’m glad I had my yaktrax on. The roads were terribly icy in town but pretty nice in the country.

SUNDAY:

Easy Effort 3.12 mi, 00:30 @ 09:36 pace. Ran out on the gravel to avoid ice. They were still a little slick and snowy but I did get in some form drills. Feeling good and a little stiff from the all-terrain (snow... ice... snow... ice...) run yesterday!

TOTAL MILEAGE: 32.25


How do you keep track of your race results over the years?

Let's Connect!



Linking up with Holly and Wendy's Weekly Wrap Up.

Comments

  1. Another great week of training!

    I am already on Athlinks and I just followed you! I love that you shared this. Hopefully we can grow our circle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And I followed you! I'm so glad we could connect, Wendy!

      Delete
  2. Great week of training. You have made great improvements throughout the years. I do not follow my races on any platform. I just have them all by memory. If there is a specific one i want to look up I just pull up my Garmin connect.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Very cool! Isn't it handy to have all of your stats backed up somewhere? So many memories.

      Delete
  3. I know I have an Athlinks account from race sign ups but never thought to use it for anything else!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I need to hunt you down on ATHLINKS, Deborah! I was surprised by how much ATHLINKS has to offer!

      Delete
  4. Gosh, I think I have an Athlinks account...but don't remember when the last time was I accessed it. I'll have to search for that...in my free time ;-) Thanks for the info!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think I have an Athlinks accounts (don't some race registrations require it?) but obviously I don't use it. I'm a half fanatic and my information is kept on my own page on that database. Nice job of training this week! I hope you and baby don't catch that cold. Thanks for linking!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Very nice, Holly! Having a personal stats database is so handy. We caught a little bit of the cold but not too bad. Could have been much worse!

      Delete
  6. I'm on Athlinks, but I haven't found any of my international race results listed. It sort of looks like I stopped racing in 2015 ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmmm maybe an international database is something ATHLINKS will develop in the future!

      Delete
  7. I love how much you have improved! Wow! I need to remember that when I feel impatient that things are not moving as fast as I want them to.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Isn't it helpful to look back?! I found my time dropped drastically in the beginning. Now the changed are much less dramatic, but improvement is improvement, no matter how small the steps are!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#RuntheYear 2022 + Knockaround Slingshot Snow Goggle Review

Race Report: Fargo Marathon 2023

Save Those Toes | KT Tape Blister Prevention